


Things That Nobody Told Her

by respoftw



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode Related, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Outsider, Pre-Slash, s02e11 The Hive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:33:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: There were a lot of things that nobody told Elizabeth about before she agreed to lead Atlantis.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [popkin16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/popkin16/gifts).



> A belated Christmas present for popkin16, cornerstone of the McShep fandom and all around wonderful person.

"They called the search off?" Elizabeth couldn't believe it. Rodney wouldn't, _couldn't_ , give up. Not after everything that he'd been through. She didn't think even Caldwell and his by-the-book military pessimism would have been enough to stop Rodney from searching the ends of the galaxy for his team.

Chuck looked pained as he turned towards her and Elizabeth steeled herself for news that she knew was going to hurt.

"They said there was nothing to search for."

Elizabeth fought every instinct she had to crumple, to close her eyes and just let herself fall apart just once. Instead, she pushed her grief back down and nodded in understanding. "Thank you," she said. What she was thanking him for was anyone's guess but that was how she was supposed to handle these situations. Never let them see you weak. Never let them see you cry. She bowed her head and made for the comfort of her office. Even if the walls were made of glass she could at least sit down. No one ever told her what an effort it was to keep standing sometimes.

Turning away from the control room, Elizabeth held her head high and - -

"Off-world activation!"

"Who is it?" she demanded, heart in her mouth. She had seen enough miracles in her time on Atlantis to allow a small course of hope to flow through her veins.

Chuck grinned up at her, relief written across his face. "We have an IDC," he beamed. "Its Colonel Sheppard's code."

 _That_ _little_....Elizabeth bit down on her need to swear. She beamed right back at Chuck. "Let 'em in."

Without waiting to see if her orders were followed, Elizabeth rushed down the stairs to the gate room, not sure whether she was planning to hug them or punch them. No one ever told her just how often she would feel those warring emotions when it came to her people.

The familiar whoosh of the wormhole rushed in her ears and she felt something settle as Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla walked through the active gate. Elizabeth had become something of an expert at gauging injuries from those first few seconds of reappearance on Atlantis and while she could tell that all three, especially Ronon and Teyla, were exhausted, there were no signs of anything more serious and she finally let herself relax.

Until she saw the murder in John's eyes.

"What - -?"

John ignored her question as he started to bark orders at the marines standing guard in the gate room. "I want two teams geared up and ready to go in three minutes; search and rescue." When the soldiers didn't immediately spring into action, John took a threatening step towards them. "NOW!" he roared.

Elizabeth belayed that order with a raised hand. From Rodney's drugged ramblings and the more coherent information she had gotten from him later, she could only guess that something had happened to Lt. Ford. As much as Elizabeth had liked Ford, as much as she had grieved him, she wasn't entirely convinced that they should be mounting a massive search and rescue operation for someone who had forcibly kidnapped and drugged her people. "John," she said gently, "do you maybe want to tell me what this is all about?"

John ignored her, already striding towards the armoury with Teyla and Ronon on his heels.

Elizabeth dug deep and brought every ounce of her authority to the fore. "Sheppard," she shouted. "You will report to me, now."

John glared at her - a terrifying sight - but Elizabeth hadn't been chosen for this position on a whim. She had withstood the glares of people more dangerous, more deadly than John Sheppard and she refused to back down, standing firm and tall and feeing a sense of pride when John blinked first.

"We found Ford," he said sharply. "He and his men ambushed us, drugged us and forced us to - - look, all that can wait. They have _Rodney_. We left him with two of Ford's men and when we got back to rescue him, they were - -" John's jaw clenched painfully, his fist curled so tight that his knuckles looked white.

"Place was trashed," Ronon finished for him. "The guards were dead. Broken neck and head trauma. No sign of McKay."

"Please, Elizabeth," Teyla sounded more weary than Elizabeth had ever heard her. "We must find Rodney. The gate had been repaired. Badly. Whoever took him could already be many worlds away. Time is of the essence."

Elizabeth had stopped breathing around the time Ronon confirmed that the guards were dead. She wasn't stupid, she knew that it was a possibility. Rodney had been so strung out, so pumped full of the enzyme that it had taken five marines to tie him to the infirmary bed. Still, to have it confirmed to her...she wondered if he knew. If he remembered using his bare hands to - - Elizabeth shook herself and focused on the problem at hand. One problem at a time was often the only way she could get through the day.

"Rodney escaped," she stated matter-of-factly, hoping to leave it at that.

"He, what?" John's eyes seemed to change colour as the threat of retribution faded and hope lightened them. "How the hell did - - where is he?"

"On the Daedalus." Elizabeth chose to ignore John's aborted first question and stick to the easier answers. "They were there, at the Hive. They saw what you did. We all - - they gave up the search for survivors and entered hyperspace ten minutes ago. They'll be back by 1900 hours."

"They thought us dead," Teyla grasped the hidden message in Elizabeth's words immediately.

"They'll all be thrilled to find out that you're not," Elizabeth answered diplomatically. "Rodney will be thrilled."

Ronon grinned at that, clapping John on the back. John didn't look quite as convinced and Elizabeth sighed. She should have known that it wouldn't be that easy.

"How?" John demanded. "How did he escape? His guards were twice the size of him and hopped up on enzyme. There's no way he could have survived what they didn't." John broke off, his eyes narrowing. He always had been too smart for his own good. "Tell me he didn't. Elizabeth, tell me he didn't do something stupid."

Ronon and Teyla looked concernedly at her and Elizabeth could see just how worn out they were. "Why don't we get you all checked out at the infirmary and go from there?" she said.

John's lips thinned but even he could see that his teammates were close to falling down. "Fine," he said. "Tell Carson he'll need to set up for enzyme withdrawal. I've seen it, it's not pretty."

Not pretty. Elizabeth knew an understatement when she heard one; in this case from experience.

"He'll know what to do," she assured them.

Teyla wasn't the only one who heard the hidden meaning in that one.

John's shoulders sagged. "How bad?" he asked.

"Bad enough."

"He's ok though, right? Because Kaneo, he..and Ford wasn't looking much better."

Elizabeth touched John's shoulder softly. No one had ever told her how handle the fact that her military commander and her chief of science were stupidly in love with each other. She'd had to figure that one out on her own.

"He will be very glad to see you alive," she said. "Come on, Carson will want to make sure you're all ok."

John let himself be led towards the infirmary, trailing after Teyla and Ronon dejectedly. Elizabeth knew that as soon as they took their eyes off of him he would be hacking his way into Rodney's medical files to find out just how bad it was. She made a mental note to ask Carson to remove the video files from the server; Rodney deserved some level of privacy after all and she knew that the last thing he would want is for John to hear some of the things that he had said while under the influence.

They might not have told her how to deal with this but they had told her never to ask. Elizabeth hated the military sometimes.

-*-*- 

1900 hours came and went and Elizabeth heard Rodney before she saw him.

"What aren't you dead?"

Elizabeth could see how pale Rodney still was, the twin flushes of red in his cheeks a sure sign of exhaustion. She could see how shaky he was, how thinly held together and she knew that if she could see it then John could see a million things more.

She watched as John pushed all that concern down and plastered on a satisfied smirk that Rodney, for all his genius, had never been able to see through.

"It's good to see you, too, Rodney," he drawled.

Elizabeth exchanged a sorrowful look with Carson.

No one had ever told her how to watch two people she cared about make themselves so unhappy.

 

 


End file.
